Monthly Archives: March 2017

Jacob Seligman was born in Germany in 1838. He immigrated to the United States when he was young and became a tailor’s assistant in Pontiac. Because of his 4’11” height and thin build he was known as Little Jake. He opened up a clothing store in Pontiac and with his success, he started branching to other cities in Michigan. After traveling to East Saginaw and seeing how the town was growing with the lumber industry he moved to Saginaw in 1878 and opened up a store.( At the time Saginaw was two cities, East Saginaw the downtown area and Saginaw City which is the old town area)

What set Little Jake’s store apart from other stores is his flamboyant advertising. He would hire a band to march around town and would stop in front of his store. With a crowd of people listening to the band, he would toss gifts from the second story window to the people below. When he came back from New York with a load of new merchandise he would travel around in a loaded wagon tossing gifts to people. He spent a lot of money in advertising in the local newspapers exclaiming how he was the ” King Clothier” of Saginaw and that he had more merchandise and lower prices than anyone of his competitors. Many of his competitors were outraged with his antics and had larger stores so in turn, they spent money advertising in the newspapers to dispute his claims. The newspapers loved the revenue he generated for them, and in return, would write favorable articles about him, even if the did use a few ” alternative facts.”

Little Jake was popular with the lumberjacks and working class people of Saginaw. While other stores catered to the wealthy, he sold at a discount and lower profit margins making his profits in selling large volume. I think his business model was the forerunner to the outlet and big box discount stores of today. Little Jake’s success with the clothing store enabled him to purchase a trolly line which he proudly had “Little Jake” painted on the sides.

Little Jake opened up a bank in the rear of his store, allowing him to cash the checks or bank notes of the lumberjacks. Many lumberjacks would head straight to Little Jake’s in the spring when the season was done. They trusted Seligman and would deposit their hard earned money in his bank. The bank grew large enough that he moved it out of the store to a separate building and was known as Little Jake’s Bank.

Little Jake’s success with the clothing store and bank enabled him to purchase a trolly line which he proudly had “Little Jake” painted on the sides. As you can see he like putting his Little Jake name on everything he owned creating a ” Personal Brand” before anyone knew that was even a thing.

Jacob Seligman purchased the building on the corner of Genesse and Lapeer from Col. Michael Jeffers in 1890. After moving his clothing store to the new location he then erected a clock tower on the triangular shape building. At the time only the wealthy was able to afford a watch and Little Jake installed the clock with his name on it so the working class people of Saginaw would know what time it was. The clock became known as Little Jake’s Time. He also had a statue installed on the top of the tower. He said it was a statue of himself but when it blew down in a storm in the 1940s it was found out it was a statue of a confederate officer from the Civil War. Shortly after the statue fell down the clock tower was removed since it no longer kept time consistently and in 1963 the building was torn down.

Little Jakes Businesses continued to grow. He began obtaining real estate in Detroit and was an investor in the Majestic Building on Woodward in Detroit. At the end of the 1800s, the economy took a turn for the worse and many businesses and investors were struggling including Little Jake. He moved to Colorado and invested in mining and in 1911 he was found dead in his home by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. His wishes were to be buried in Saginaw and his body was transported to the city he loved and it was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Jacob “Little Jake” Seligman was not as influential as Arthur Hill, Aaron Bliss or C.K. Eddy and did not have a school named after him, or held public office. I think he was not well regarded in Saginaw’s high society because of his working class relationships and his carnival-like advertising, but he was loved by the people he sold his products to. It was his endless self-promotion and hard work that made him such and endearing person. I think he would have fit right in with today’s reality TV and social media.

P.S. If you are wondering Jakes Old City Grill in Old Town is named after him.

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I found this old photo of Hamilton Street looking north from Court Street. The building on the corner is where the parking ramp is now. It seems so strange to see all the building along the east side of the street since it’s mostly parking lot now. I am not sure when this photo was taken but judging from the horse and buggies in the photo I wold say the late 1800s or early 1900s and it looks as if the road was dirt with trolly tracks back then. I like the old-timey looking street light, oh wait, back then that was high tech.

It would be interesting to travel back in time to see what Saginaw was like back then, but I can only imagine what it must have smelled like with all the horses and the road apples they leave behind.

P.S. sorry I have not been posting as much as I would like, I have been working on my book for my Lost In Michigan website. ( click here to visit it)

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Checkin’ out The Gallery Art for Saginaw in the Bancroft building on the corner of Genesee and Water streets. The gallery gives a portion of its proceeds back to Saginaw youth art programs. if you wanna know more check out their website HERE

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On my quest to find forgotten towns in Saginaw County I found the town of Fosters on the map in north-east Taymouth township, between Bridgeport and Birch Run. I took a trip out there to Busch road and came to a large community of houses. I have never heard of anyone refer to the area as Fosters, but then again I don’t know everything, but it does still feel like a town. It seems as though most towns have, or had a church, general store, school and a saloon, and while most are gone in Fosters, I did find Bob’s Bar.

The area where fosters is located was the farm of Gardner W. Foster, who is believed to be the first non-Native American baby born in Saginaw County on the banks of the Tittabawassee River in 1831. His farm on the Flint River grew to over 150 acres and his son Charles G. Foster also purchased land in the area and created his own prosperous farm. The town’s first post office opened in 1889 and remained open until 1956. The town also had a train station on the Cincinnati, Saginaw & Mackinaw Railroad that passed next to the town. If you are ever near the area where Busch and Dorwood roads come together you can say you have been to Fosters.

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In 1835 Dr. Daniel H. Fitzhugh visited the prairie area along the Saginaw river north of East Saginaw. He fell in love with the area and purchased a tract of land about where the Consumer’s Energy plant is north of the bridge. A few years later in 1848 the Johnson brothers, Daniel and Soloman, came to the Saginaw valley from New York and built a sawmill south of the Doctor Fitzhugh’s property. The village grew with a boarding house and several other businesses as the brothers laid down a plank road to the city of East Saginaw with lumber from their mill. In 1854 Zilwaukee Towship was formed and as the story goes, according to several sources I have found, the brothers named the village Zilwaukee with the hopes it would confuse immigrants coming into New York thinking they are going to Milwaukee. I am not sure if their scheme to attract immigrants ever panned out but Zilwaukee is still around and has a big beautiful bridge too, but that’s a post for a different day.

P.S. I like how my computer tries to auto correct Zilwaukee to Milwaukee

I will be at the Kempton Elementary spring bazaar on March 11th selling t-shirts, I hope you will stop by and say hi. If you can’t make it to the bazaar, you can also order shirtsHERE

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I was going thru some old photographs and I found a bunch of photos that I had taken of a snow sculpture contest in Saginaw back in the mid 90’s. most of the photos were of the snow sculptures that have melted in the Michigan sunshine so many years ago but I did take this photo of the Morley Travel mural in Old Town. It was painted on the wall of the building that remained exposed after the tragic fire of the Fordney Hotel on the corner of Court and Hamilton.

I wish I would have gone around taking photos of buildings and places instead of the snow sculptures. And if you are wondering about the red column running thru the photo, The camera my wife and I had at the time was broken and it exposed this red strip on all the photos. Those of you that are old enough to remember film cameras know that taking pics was not as easy and just getting out you phone and snapping away.

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I took some photos of Kempton Elementary School on Davenport street and a few days later I was at the Castle Museum looking at their Becoming Modern exhibit, showcasing some of the modern architecture in Saginaw, and there I saw a model of Kempton Elementary School. I recognized it right away because of the arched covered walkway that welcomes students into the school. Designed by F. Wigen and Associates the school was the winner of the 1964 AIA Merit Award for its innovative design which incorporated an interior courtyard.

Built in 1961, Kempton Elementary School started the school year with Eleanor J. Dodge, a former teacher at South Intermediate School, as its first principal. The school is named in honor of Dr. Rockwell M. Kempton, who died in 1952, he was a prominent Saginaw physician who specialized in children’s diseases.

One of the reasons why I was taking a pic of the school is I will be at their spring bazaar on March 11th selling t-shirts, I hope you will stop by and say hi, if you can’t make it to the bazaar, you can also order shirts HERE

if you wanna know more about the Castle Museum exhibit Becoming Modern click HERE

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